Kids' common vision problem gets answer

They might have a common but often missed problem: Eyes that don't turn together properly to read.

As many as one of every 20 students have some degree of what eye doctors call "convergence insufficiency," or CI, where eye muscles must work harder to focus up close.

A major government study finally offers evidence for the best approach: eye training performed in a doctor's office for 12 weeks.

The right treatment can make a profound difference, said Adele Andrews of Rydal, Pa., whose son, Thomas, participated in the study when he was 10 - and improved enough to start reading for fun.

His mother knew something wasn't right early on: Reading seemed to require a physical struggle of Thomas that his older siblings never experienced. "He always wanted to buy books, but he wouldn't read them. He wanted to, but it was too hard for him," she recalled.

Then homework began, and "I don't even want to tell you how bad it was," Andrews said. "He would get frustrated. He wouldn't do it. ... I tried everything. It got to the point where it was just a battle."

Why? To bring print or other close-in work into focus, both eyes must turn slightly inward, or converge. As its name implies, convergence insufficiency means the eyes aren't doing that properly. Words might appear blurry or double.

Complaints are rare in very young children because pictures and large type don't require as much convergence. Parents tend to start noticing a problem once homework and deeper reading begins.

Diagnosis requires seeing an ophthalmologist or optometrist trained to treat children who can measure convergence with simple tests.

A study funded by the National Eye Institute aimed to find out what treatment worked best by randomly assigning 221 9- to 17-year-olds to one of those approaches or to a control group given "dummy" exercises at the doctor's office.

Three months later, nearly 75 per-cent of office-treated patients had greatly improved - compared with no more than 43 percent of home-treated patients, Mitchell Scheiman of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University and colleagues report in this month's Archives of Ophthalmology. The study will continue tracking patients for a year to ensure the benefit lasts.

At roughly $75 a visit, office treatment is clearly more expensive. Why would it work better?

The NEI's Brian Brooks said a combination of more varied in-office exercises might hold a child's attention better - along with a doctor acting like a personal trainer, ensuring the youngster does each technique properly and doesn't slack off.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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